January 21, 2013

Hey everybody!

I've been having the hardest time lately finding things to say in my emails.  This week was just another normal week.  Proselyting in the Praso branch where we are is going kind of slow since the split and it's been hard to find people to teach, but when we went out to the village called Nuamakrom where they have a ward, there were a lot of referrals waiting for us that have been coming to church for quite a while.  Nuamakrom is a great place because it's a quiet and humble place.  It's about a quarter of the way to Assin Foso on a really dusty road and bumpy road.  The taxis that go there have so much dust but when you finally get there it's worth it because the people are so great.  Because it's in the middle of nowhere, most of the people don't speak english and their main source of income is farming.  The usually farm things like cocoa, plantains, and cassava.  We have about 13 solid people that we are teaching out there and two of them are husband and wife with some kids.  The ward mission leader is a great help to us because he takes us around and translates the lessons if the people don't speak english.  On Sunday we went there for church and taught some of the people after.  We were able to set a few baptismal dates for next month and so as long as they keep progressing and we are able to meet with them then they will be baptized.  Today we came down to Cape Coast and for our activity we were able to watch the Best Two Years.  That show is a lot more fun to watch as a missionary.  I was able to relate to a lot of things that they were saying and doing and it was really funny.  Nothing too much is happening this coming week but it still should be a really good weeks.  Well, thanks for the emails and everything you guys do for me. Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Kitchen 

January 15, 2013

Hey everybody!

This week has been another good one.  During the week we went on splits so that I could go and do an interview for the other Elders in our apartment.  We went out to a small village called Nuamakrom where they have a ward there.  It used to be part of the others proselyting area but now it is going to be a part of my proselyting area from now going because of the splitting of our ward.  It's about a 20 minutes taxi drive to the place on a really crappy dirt road. The taxis that go on that road are so crappy and your shirt gets very dusty when you even just sit on the seats.  By the time you get to the place, your shirt is completely covered in dust.  The interview went well and then we went around a little bit and he showed me some of the members that we will be working with and some other things about the area before we came back.  That place is cool.  We are going to be going there this coming Friday to meet some of the investigators and get to know the area better.  We don't have any baptism dates set right now but we are hopefully going to have some people progressing really soon.  It's going to be a little slower now that we are in the new branch in Praso.  Last night we went to a family home evening with one of the members and they gave us a huge bowl of fufu with fish and goat and it was so good.  I felt like I was going to die because I was so full.  Then he took us back to our apartment in his car which was awesome because it's rare that we get to ride in a nice car.  So life is going well right now and I'm happy. I guess I'll just talk to you all next week! Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Kitchen

January 8, 2013

Hey everybody!

So another transfer had come and gone and my companionship wasn't effected so I'll be with my companion for at least another 8 weeks because this transfer is an extended one.  The day after zone council, my companion and I went to Assin Foso to meet with the stake presidency there and it went great.  We went back to the zone leaders apartment there in Foso and slept there for the night and then came back to Praso early the next morning.  Before we went to Foso, we did a service project for one of the other companionship's investigator.  We helped weed and move big cement blocks around to help the mason who is building the place for the woman to live.  It was a lot of fun but really tiring.  For lunch the other companionship and us went to the apartment and made a big french toast lunch.  It was a lot of fun and it was good to see their investigator so happy.  Two Sundays ago, our ward was split into a ward and a branch so my companion and I are in the branch and there will be a lot of work to do there.  The membership is much smaller and the proselyting area won't be that easy, but we'll still manage.  Transfer news came and took two of our elders from the zone and we'll be sad to miss them but we'll be getting two good ones in return.  Our area is tough sometimes because most of the people don't speak english so we are always having to take people around with us to translate.  In the bigger cities it isn't as bad because more people speak english.  That's one of the challenges of being more in the villages but you usually get to baptize more people.  Well, everything is still cool here.  It was good to hear from all of you. Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Kitchen

December 24, 2012

Hey everybody!

I'm running very short on time so I just thought I would at least read the emails and send something small.  Thanks for all of the Merry Christmas wishes. I still can't believe it is Christmas.  This week has been fun and the activity on Friday was great. We had a fun program and then we watched Forever Strong again.  I'm very excited to call home tomorrow and talk to you all!  I'll make sure to call at the times that you told me! I love you guys and have a great Christmas Eve! I'll talk to you all tomorrow! 

Love Elder Kitchen

December 17, 2012

Hey again family!

So I'm going to start today with a funny thing that happened on Sunday. After we went to Kenkuase to visit there, we were leaving and we were lucky enough to have a taxi waiting by the trail to take us back to Nuamakrom so we wouldn't have to walk the four miles back.  Then I got in and noticed how ghetto and crappy the taxi was.  It was by far the worst one I've seen in Ghana...and that is saying something.  The windshield was completely cracked all over, it was covered with dust inside and the doors didn't really even close.  We jumped on in and then a bunch of other people piled in with us.  We ended up having four people in the backseat (all adults), and then the crazy part is that we had six people in the front! and there were only two seats.  There were two adults and two kids in the passenger side and two people in the driver seat.  The way my companion and I put it was that it was a jungle car.  The road is so crappy and we kept smashing the bottom of the car on the ground, and then the front right wheel got all jacked up and was rubbing up against the wheel well the rest of the way.  The car ended up dying right as it got to our destination.  It was pretty funny.

So I'm really looking forward to Christmas next week.  I can't believe it is already time to call home.  I'm excited to talk to you all soon.  This week I went to Foso again for a meeting with the stake presidency and I again had to sleep over there.  It's fun over there but it makes me so tired the next day.  I never sleep on time when I'm over there.  The meeting was good and the stake presidency is happy with the work that we are doing.  We are still preparing about two people or so to be baptized at the end of this month so I'm hoping that everything goes through with that. The baptism would be after Christmas though.  We played soccer today and I am so tired because we had to wake up at 5:00 am yesterday and today and also the game drained all of my energy.  I'm not excited to travel back up to Praso on that crappy tro tro.  I've become a travel machine since I have come to Praso.  Traveling here isn't fun at all either.  It's the most uncomfortable thing in the world.  I just can't wait to drive a car and have the A/C blowing in my face!  That's when riding in a car is awesome.  Well I guess we'll talk more next week. I'll email you next Monday...but if I don't, it's because the power was out or something and I'll just call home the next day!  Thanks everybody...I love you all.

Love Elder Kitchen

December 11, 2012

Hey everybody!

Another week has come and gone and now it's just two weeks until Christmas!  I'm so excited to talk to all of you guys.  So this week was actually pretty crazy because it was the presidential elections here so everybody was gone or only thinking about the election.  Ghanaians are funny because they just like to party and dance on any occasion and the elections gives them that reason to party.  I'm pretty sure that about 75% of the people that voted didn't even know what that candidate was going to do for them.  When they vote, because they don't do it electronically they have to just count them by hand which leaves lots of room for corruption and error and it also takes a lot of time.  They voted on Friday the seventh and didn't get the results until Sunday late in the evening.  Then people were all running around outside dancing, kissing the ground, and just going crazy.  Luckily Ghana is very peaceful so they don't have problems when it comes to elections. I didn't feel threatened in any way and that was cool.  We have a few more people here in Praso that we are hoping to have baptized by the end of the month but it will all depend on how this week goes.  I don't have too much time, as usual, I'm freaking busy. Haha.  Thanks for all you guys do and have a great week! I'll talk to you all next week!

Love Elder Kitchen

December 3, 2012

Hey...it's me again.

What's up everybody!  Thanks for the emails this week.  I swear if every week keeps going this fast then I'll be old and dying before I know it.  It was really nice to have all of those baptisms go because now I feel a lot less busy.  I guess we were still busy this week though because we went on splits for three days in a row with different companionships in our zone.  The first one I went out to be in an area called Nyenasi.  That place is a complete village.  It's clear out in the bush and there are just two missionaries there. I went with Elder Derry who I was in the MTC with and went around there.  One thing that I am going to miss a lot is eating fresh coconuts.  The little kids just climb up into palm tree and get them down and then they cut them open.  I love drinking that water that is inside. They just taste so good! The next day I was in my own area with a new missionary from Zimbabwe and it was a good day.  We starting teaching one woman that we met who has been taught by missionaries a long time ago.  Then the next day I was with Elder Glider in the other area in Praso.  We saw and killed a snake this week when we were at Nyenasi.  I hate snakes.  I know that Will would just love it here! There are so many different animals.  I finally tried the thing called grasscutter this week and it was actually really good. It tasted like chicken, but the only problem is that is looks like a big rat.  Sunday we had two investigators come to church.  We don't have as big of numbers anymore because of the last baptism. It's alright though because we will just go find more people! We have been teaching a Muslim girl which has been cool. She's very nice and accepting to us.  It would be pretty cool to baptize a Muslim before I finished my mission.  I can't believe it is already December now.  Less than one month and it will be 2013!  I thought that year would never come! :) Well, I'll talk to you all next week!  Have a great week everybody!

Elder Kitchen